PHOENIX — President Donald Trump signed his budget bill into law on Friday, July 4, which makes the tax cuts from his first term permanent. Arizona lawmakers and public officials have weighed in on the bill, as well as various local and state organizations offering statements of both praise and concern.
All six Republican Representatives for Arizona voted for the bill. Representative Paul Gosar praised the bill for reducing spending, cutting taxes, and providing for increased border security. In a press release prior to the bill’s passage in the Senate, Gosar said, “This bill will secure our southern border and empower border patrol agents to deport the millions of illegal aliens welcomed into our country by Joe Biden.”
Representative Andy Biggs voted for the bill, despite voicing harsh criticism the day before it passed. On July 2, Biggs appeared on the Phoenix-based KTAR News radio show, The Mike Broomhead Show, and said, “It’s hard for me to conceive that it’ll pass as is. There’s some amazingly bad stuff in here.”
After the bill’s passage in the House the following day, Biggs released a statement explaining that he worked with the House Freedom Caucus to push for greater spending cuts. “While there is always room to improve, the historic tax cuts and reforms in this bill move us in the right direction and will power our economy,” he said in the statement.
One group that praised the economic benefits of the bill was the Arizona Farm Bureau. In a post on Facebook made before the bill passed, the organization praised the appropriations bill and urged Arizona Congressional Representatives to pass it. “The bill as delivered by the U.S. Senate maintains critical tax provisions, invests and enhances farm safety net programs, and provides certainty for future generations,” the post said.
The bill also received harsh criticism from Arizona leaders like Senators Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego.
“This bill rigs the system even further in favor of the ultra-wealthy, and it will leave working families paying the price for years to come,” Senator Gallego said in a written statement. Senator Kelly echoed that criticism in an online X post that said, “This week, we saw who stands with working class Americans and who stands with billionaires.”
Governor Katie Hobbs warned Arizonans during a press conference on July 1 just before the bill’s passage in the U.S. House. She said that the state of Arizona does not have the financial resources to mitigate the federal cuts to healthcare and food stamps.
“It’s billions of dollars that we don’ t have,” she said. “Even if we cut everything else across the state, we don’t have the money to back-fill all of these cuts.”
The federal bill’s passage occurred just after the Arizona legislature completed its own round of heated budget fights. The $17 billion Arizona budget finally passed a week earlier and was signed into law.
The Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association (AZHHA) says that Arizona’s Medicaid program—the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS)—is now at risk. AZHHA estimates that as many as 300,000 Arizona Medicaid recipients—or, 20%— could lose coverage because of the bill. The Arizona healthcare system may lose $6 billion, according to a statement released by AZHHA, and more than 55% of Arizona hospitals could operate in the red.
An early analysis of the bill was produced by the Cecil G. Sheps Center at the University of North Carolina before it went to the U.S. Senate. The organization sent a letter to Congress summarizing its analysis, which found that more than 300 hospitals nationwide could be at risk of closing.
The letter mentioned five hospitals in Arizona that have the greatest risk of closing: Page Hospital in Page, Winslow Memorial Hospital in Winslow, Copper Queen Community Hospital in Bisbee, Carondelet Holy Cross Hospital in Nogales, and Cobre Valley Regional Medical Center in Globe.
Cobre Valley CEO Neal Jenson told ASU’s Cronkite News that about a third of their patients are on Medicaid. “Anytime you jeopardize a third of your payer base, you will have a significant impact,” he said.
Other organizations that opposed the bill include the Arizona Medical Association, Health System Alliance of Arizona, and Arizona Council of Human Service Providers. The Arizona Food Bank has also expressed concern that the cuts in the bill will cause greater food insecurity for Arizonans.
Alan Hayman
